Land-torpedo.



G. L. AYDELOTTE.

LAND TORPEDO.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 30. 1918.

Patented Aug. 27, 1918.

- citizen of the -United States,

G URDY L, AYDELOTTE, OF MIAMI, FLORIDA.

LAND-TORPEDO.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GURDY L. AYDELOTTE, residing at Miami, in the county of Dado and State of Florida, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Land-Torpedoes, of which the following is a s ecification.

This inventionrelates to land torpedoes and it has for itsobject the provision of an improved device of this character con structed in 'such manner that it is adapted to burrow its way through the earth for a pre-determined distance'and to be exploded at the will of the operator.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which now follows:

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a land torpedo constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is a partial longitudinal sectional view therethrough, and

. Fig. 3 is a vertical section upon line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Like numerals designate corresponding parts in all of the figures of the drawing.

Referring to the drawing 5 designates a casing within which an electric motor 6 is located. This motor furnishes the power to cause the device to burrow its way through the earth. A plate 7 at the forward end of the motor constitutes'a fixed part of a ball hearing which comprises the balls Sand a rotative rmg 9-; This rotative ring is secured-by screws or other suitable fastening dev1ces 10 to a rotative sleeve 11 located outwardly of the casing 5. The sleeve 11 carries an internal gear 12 with which a gear wheel 13 meshes. This gear wheel is in turn driven by a pinion 14 on a shaft 15 and this shaft carries a gear wheel 16 that meshes with a pinion 17 mounted upon the main shaft 18 of the motor; It will be seen that this structure constitutes a reduction gearing betweenthe shaft of the motor and the internal gear 12 and that consequently the rotatlon of the. sleeve 11, while much slower than that of the motor shaft is correspondingly more powerful. Threaded at 19 upon the forward end of the sleeve 11 1s an auger 20, the threaded connection of this auger with the sleeve 11 rendering it comprising a Speciflcationof Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 27, 1918. Application filed April 80, 1918. Serial No. 231,782. v

possible to use augers of varying form. In other words these angers are interchangeable so that an' auger of the type suited to the character of the ground may be employed.

The rear end of the sleeve 11 carries a ring 21 which constitutes a rotative part of an anti-friction bearing. Balls 22 are dis posed between this ring and a fixed ring 23 which has a fiber center of insulating material indicated at 24. The parts 23 and 24 do not rotate and these parts carry a tail or rudder 25 having an opening 26 formed therethrou'gh for the passage of electric wires of which there are three indicated at 27, 28, and 29. The wires 27 and 28 lead to the motor and the wire 28 has an exposed portion 28 projecting into a bomb chamber 30 adapted to receive explosives to constitute a bomb. The wire 29has its terminal end 31 disposed adjacent the exposed portion 28 of the motor wire and whenever the wire 28 is grounded, current will leap from the ,point 28 to the point 31 and explode the bomb. It will be noted that the tail 25 will hold casing 5 and the contained parts against rotation while the sleeve 11 is free torotate andimpart movement to the auger 20. This results in causing the device to burrow its way through the earth until it reaches the point where it is desired to have it explode, whereupon it is only necessary for the operator to ground the wire 29, as before stated, in order to accomplish this result.-

Any suitablereel may be employed for paying out the wire, the invention residing more particularly in the torpedo itself, than in the reel, since it is a parent that many ways may be devised wires,'without departure from the invenor paying out the Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. A device of the character described comprising a contained motor, an auger operated thereby, a tail for holding the motor against bodily rotation.

device of the character described therein, a bomb therein, a sleeve extending longitudinally over said casing, an auger a bomb carried thereby and casing; a motor contained jcarried by said sleeve and means for imand a tail for comprising a casing, a motor mounted therein, a bomb chamber in said casing, a sleeve surrounding said casing and bodily rotative with respect thereto, reduction gearing between the motor and the sleeve; anauger carried by the sleeve and a tall for preventing bodily rotation of the casing.

' 5. A structure as recited in claim 4 Wherein said tail is provided with.a,1ongit.ud inally extending'channel for the passage of wires and motor wires and wires for creating'an electric spark in the bomb chamber disposed in said passage.

6. device of the character described comprlsin a casing, a motor mounted therein, a bom chamber 'in the casing, asleeve surrounding the casing and rotative with respect thereto, an auger threaded upon said sleeve an internal gear carried bythe sleeve, reduction gearing between said' internal gear and themotor shaft and a tail for prevent ng bodilyi rotation of the casin In testimony whereof I aflix in the presence of two witnesses.

GURDY L. 'AYDELOTTE..' Witnesses: JAMES T. SANDERS,

ULY O. THOMPSON.

my signature- 

